Inventions, firsts, and turning points tied to today’s date — each one sourced and dated.
A 575-pound spacecraft left Earth on a months-long chase that would return humanity's first close views of another planet's surface.
After a lecture on astronomy, a dozen thinkers resolved to build a permanent college for experiment — the world's oldest surviving science academy.
After a brutal 38-day passage through a frozen southern labyrinth, three battered ships sailed into an ocean so calm it earned a hopeful name.
